Emma Nelson was named the 12th head volleyball coach at St. Olaf on April 24, 2026.
A former two-sport athlete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), Nelson came to St. Olaf after three seasons as the lead assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D. In her playing days, Nelson was a volleyball and basketball student-athlete at St. Catherine University. Her first day at St. Olaf will be May 4.
After being hired as a full-time assistant coach in May of 2023, Nelson helped Augustana to 38 wins, including 25 in the highly-competitive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), over the last three seasons. With the Vikings, she was involved with practice design, opponent scouting, and player development, while also directing the program's recruiting efforts. Nelson also led positional training for defense, serve receive, and blocking, coordinated team travel logistics, and organized summer volleyball camps, and hosted club tournaments.
Prior to her time at Augustana, Nelson spent one year working in the MIAC office as the assistant director. In that role, she supported conference initiatives related to competition oversight, sportsmanship, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programming, directed the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) initiatives, and organized educational events focused on student-athlete mental health, career development, and leadership.
Nelson holds a bachelor of arts in psychology from St. Catherine University and a master of arts in sport administration and leadership from Augustana University. She was a team captain in both volleyball and basketball as a student-athlete at St. Kate's. Nelson is also a member of Women Leaders in Sports and WeCOACH.
